In modern computing contexts, individual users frequently need multiple computers to perform different tasks that relate to many areas, including business, government, and personal use cases. As a result, individual users frequently deploy multiple complete desktop computers to meet the need to have multiple computers, leading to new concerns that typical information technology solutions have failed to address. For example, having multiple computers deployed in a particular work space can cause increased power consumption and thermal output in small areas, crowded or cluttered work spaces due to multiple computers occupying a limited area, and challenging cable management, among other things. Moreover, information technology trends that include virtual and remote systems can create unique challenges to information technology infrastructures, including requirements to completely redesign or rethink strategies relating to software deployment and system management. Thus, although the solutions most commonly most used today to address user needs to have multiple computers tend to impose high initial deployment costs, which can undercut the promise that these solutions have to lower long-term total ownership cost. Additionally, many information technology organizations are continuing to grapple with legacy security requirements from the 1980's, which mandate computers having certain security classifications to be physically located thirty-six inches away from computers having lesser classifications. These policies were initially meant to prevent radio frequency emissions from one machine infiltrating and interfering with another, which was needed to protect sensitive information in a computing era with a very different radio frequency (or electromagnetic interference) noise floor. Although these policies still have limited enforcement today, deploying multiple computers within a particular space may raise compliance concerns if the computers are placed in close proximity.
Consequently, because computer designs typically change as quickly as the seasons, the information technology community has failed to develop a desktop computer design that can satisfactorily and simultaneously address the needs to easily deploy multiple desktop computers at a low initial cost while ensuring optimal stability, safety, performance, regulatory compliance, and other customer concerns. In particular, modern consumers demand desktop computer designs that can be deployed over the long-term and appear modern and innovative. The marketplace has experienced difficulty in meeting these goals, due in large part to rapid changes in market trends and substantial capital investment requirements that interfere with frequent redesign. Furthermore, existing desktop computing platforms are normally designed to be deployed on the floor, which many users consider an inconvenient place. In particular, the typical user views their monitor, keyboard, and mouse as interfaces to the computer, but simple tasks like turning a computer on means that the user has to reach down to the floor to flip a switch. Even if a user wanted to place the computer on their desk to be nearer to the monitor, keyboard, and mouse interfaces, the user would then have to deal with several bulky cables entering a box that never seems to quite sit on the desk perfectly. To the extent that certain systems enable users to press specific keyboard button sequences to solve these concerns, keyboard-based switching may be unacceptable to many customers due to the risks associated therewith (e.g., accidentally triggering a particular action due to mistyping).
Another important concern in modern computing contexts relates to managing power and deployment. For example, certain customers that user multiple different computers may require discrete power supplies to address concerns relating to security, one shared power supply that can potentially be a single-point failure to an entire system, or an individual computer having increased power requirements that cannot justify the increased cost associated with a larger shared power supply. However, existing computer designs have fallen short in providing customers with the flexibility to dynamically manage supplying power to multiple computers that may have different security or power consumption requirements. Moreover, interconnecting multiple computers using commercially available switches tends to quickly become a cabling nightmare because every port that maintains a connection between the switch and a particular computer requires four cables, namely, two monitor cables, one Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable, and one audio cable. As such, installing commonly available switches brings all these cables onto the desk in addition to network cables and other cables needed to connect two displays, a keyboard, a mouse, speakers, and other console devices. Although certain vendors have attempted to make custom cables that purportedly address these cabling issues, these custom cables tend to be thick and inflexible.
Accordingly, because computers are playing an ever increasing role in modern society, where a desktop computer could be anything from a classic box to a graphics machine, consumers value a computing experience that reflects their unique traits. For example, users frequently place personal objects that represent their personality and image in their work spaces, and users expect their computing environment to reflect their uniqueness and individuality. However, the commercially available systems that enable deploying multiple desktop computers tend to fall short in adequately addressing how users want to interact with technology, which include concerns that relate to form and function. Further, concern over environmental hazards and personal ecological responsibility are becoming increasingly important to consumers, but many desktop computers still include circuit boards with brominated flame retardant (BFR), cables with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), non-recyclable parts, excessive packaging materials, and other environmental hazards. As such, the marketplace has failed to deliver a suitable computing platform or other solution that can address these and other concerns.